Melbourne to be very active this trade period

Melbourne have already reportedly offered Essendon player Jake Melksham a 4 year contract believed to be worth $400,000 a year to move to the club during the trade period. It has also now been reported the club are seriously working to obtain young midfielders Ben Kennedy from Collingwood and Thomas Bugg from Greater Western Sydney (GWS).

Melbourne are looking to add to the depth of players in the 21-24 age bracket to assist fast track the development of their up and coming list. They have a plethora of talent coming through the ranks and if they get their recruitment right they could be expecting success in the near future.

The clubs reported offer to Jake Melksham is certainly an interesting one with many believing the 24 year old is only a fringe player at best and would struggle to get a game at many of the stronger clubs in the AFL. What will be even more interesting is what Essendon ask for him as they have a history of overvaluing their players and being difficult to deal with on the trade table. In 2010 Essendon lost Bachar Houli to the pre-season draft after they failed to come to terms with the Richmond Football Club despite a fair offer being made.

The recruitment of big bodied inside midfielder Thomas Bugg appears to be a move to replaced retired veteran Daniel Cross who offered a couple of years of solid service to the club after he was delisted by the Western Bulldogs. Bugg has managed 65 games over his four years with GWS and has been a solid contributor in both their midfield and in defence. His recruitment would certainly lift the Melbourne midfield which already has gun players Bernie Vince, Nathan Jones and Dom Tyson in it, along with young guns Angus Brayshaw, Jack Viney and Christian Petracca (yet to play a game) who is expected to return fit and firing from his tragic knee injury he suffered prior to the season proper.

The recruitment of speedy midfielder Ben Kennedy appears more of a value play as the youngster is looking for more opportunities after only managing 5 games with Collingwood in his 3rd season at the club. The former first round draft pick has managed 25 games over 3 years but may be looking for an opportunity to establish himself as one of the top midfielders and have a fresh start at a new club.

It will be interesting to see how the trade week plays out with Melbourne keenly interested in these two players but both surely to attract interest from other clubs. Melbourne do have a history of outbidding their opponents in trades to ensure they get the players they want, and with their provisional draft picks for the 2015 draft to include pick 6, 25 and 43 they look capable of orchestrating some trades involving multiple clubs to ensure they get their players.

On the other side of things, it appears likely that Melbourne will retain the services of former number 1 pick Jack Watts for at least another season and have indicated that free agent Colin Garland will re-sign with the club in the coming days. The only concern for the club is high flying Jeremy Howe who may look at his options as he searches for a better contract offer. It is expected that Howe is unlikely to attract the money that has been suggested he is after, up to $600,000 a year, but whether that means he will remain at Melbourne may depend on his ambitions for success.